Woman in Mind with Nicole Farhi

CDH Talks: What do you think defined the "Nicole Farhi" woman in your art practice?

Nicole Farhi: I never consciously created a "Nicole Farhi woman." What interested me was individuality rather than an ideal. I was drawn to women who seemed comfortable in their own skin, who possessed a quiet confidence and intelligence. The clothes were never meant to transform women into someone else; they were designed to accompany them. Looking back, perhaps what defined the women who wore my clothes was a sense of authenticity and freedom rather than a particular style.

CDH Talks: What pushed you to move from fashion into sculpture — was it a gradual shift or a sudden break?

Nicole Farhi: It was both. Sculpture had always been present in my life as a private passion. I began taking classes while I was still working in fashion and spent years learning and practising. The desire to sculpt grew gradually, but when I finally left fashion, the decision itself was quite sudden. I felt I had said what I wanted to say through clothing and was ready to devote myself entirely to another form of expression.

CDH Talks: Do you see sculpture as a continuation of fashion, or as a completely new language?

Nicole Farhi: It is a new language, but there are connections. Both involve volume, proportion, balance and an understanding of the human body. In fashion, the body is moving inside the work; in sculpture, the body becomes the work. What changed was my relationship to time. Fashion belongs to the rhythm of seasons and constant renewal. Sculpture asks for patience and permanence. It allows a slower and deeper conversation.

CDH Talks: How has working with three-dimensional forms changed the way you think about the body?

Nicole Farhi: It has made me look more carefully. Sculpture teaches humility because every gesture, every shift of weight, every tension in a muscle matters. The body is not simply an object to be seen; it carries emotion, memory and experience. Through sculpture I became less interested in appearance and more interested in presence — in what a posture can reveal about a person's inner life.

CDH Talks: Is there something sculpture allows you to express that fashion never could?

Nicole Farhi: Yes. Sculpture allows me to explore vulnerability, mortality and permanence in a way fashion cannot. A sculpture can hold silence. It can invite contemplation without needing to be useful or worn. In recent works, such as my latest exhibitions J'Accuse about Miscarriages of Justice and INTIMACY, I have been able to address questions of injustice, human dignity, tenderness and solitude. Those are subjects that would have been difficult to approach through clothing alone.

CDH Talks: Who are the Women in Mind?

Nicole Farhi: The women in my sculptures are not portraits of specific individuals, even when they are modelled from life. They represent states of being.

‍Maryam and I are interested in women who have escaped the burden of convention. Through photography and sculpture, we celebrate women who are at peace with themselves — women who occupy their bodies with ease rather than apology. The works are not about perfection; they are about presence. They reflect a kind of freedom that comes from no longer performing for others, but simply inhabiting one's own space, one's own body, one's own life.

CDH Talks: How do you feel about presenting your work in the South of France?

Nicole Farhi: As a French woman who has spent much of her life and career in England, exhibiting in France is always emotional. There is a sense of returning home, not only geographically but culturally. It feels particularly special to present this work in the South of France where I was born, a region that has inspired so many artists and where the themes of freedom, sensuality and the relationship to the body seem especially alive.